PITTSBURGH -- Petr Sykora ended Pittsburgh's seven-game drought without a power-play goal while scoring twice and Evgeni Malkin came out of a slump with three assists, leading the Penguins to a 3-1 victory against the Atlanta Thrashers.
The Penguins, outscored 10-1 in their previous two games, also got captain Sidney Crosby's first power-play goal in 26 games and ended a five-game losing streak. They had dropped five in a row at home, getting outscored 23-8 during a streak that included losses of 7-3 to Toronto and 6-1 to Florida.
Atlanta, last in the Eastern Conference, didn't show much life outside of a couple of skirmishes involving Colby Armstrong. The Thrashers lost their sixth in seven games. The Thrashers are 0-3 against the Penguins, with Crosby getting two goals and four assists.
Pittsburgh's 0-for-33 power-play slump, its longest since an eight-game streak in December 2003, ended late in the first period when Sykora redirected Ryan Whitney's pass from the right point after Malkin dug the puck out from behind the net. Whitney showed the Penguins' relief by dropping his head back and looking upward. Full story
Red Wings 3, Blue Jackets 0
DETROIT -- Ty Conklin made 23 saves for his eighth career shutout and Pavel Datsyuk had a goal and two assists.
Marian Hossa had a goal and an assist and Henrik Zetterberg added a goal for Detroit, which won its fourth straight. Conklin got his fourth shutout this season and stretched his home scoreless streak to 138 minutes, 46 seconds.
Steve Mason stopped 37 shots for Columbus.
Datsyuk got the game's first goal 3:45 into the third period on a power play. He put in a rebound off a goal-mouth scramble for his 17th of the season.
Avalanche 2, Predators 1
NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Wojtek Wolski scored both goals for Colorado.
It was the fifth loss in a row for the Predators. The Avalanche ended a three-game slide.
Ryan Jones, recalled from Milwaukee of the American Hockey League earlier in the day, scored for the Predators.
At 7:30 of the first period, J.P. Dumont fired a wrist shot from low inside the left circle that bounced off Avalanche goaltender Andrew Raycroft. The shot moved Raycroft to the far side of the goal mouth and Jones, stationed in front of the net, put the rebound into an open net. Raycroft had 22 saves.
Panthers 4, Maple Leafs 2
TORONTO -- Stephen Weiss, Ville Peltonen, Michael Frolik and Gregory Campbell scored goals to lead Florida.
Former Maple Leafs defenseman Bryan McCabe added an assist and goaltender Tomas Vokoun stopped 24 shots.
Alexei Ponikarovsky and Jason Blake scored for the Maple Leafs. Vesa Toskala made 30 saves.
The Panthers got a quick jump on the Leafs, registering 10 shots on goal in the first five minutes of the game before eventually building a 3-0 lead after two periods.
Blackhawks 6, Coyotes 0
GLENDALE, Ariz. -- Adam Burish started a four-goal outburst in the opening period with his first score of the season and Chicago routed Phoenix behind Cristobal Huet's 22 saves. Huet earned his second shutout this season and the 19th of his career.
Jonathan Toews had two late goals and an assist, and Kris Versteeg, Ben Eager and Colin Fraser also scored for the Blackhawks, who swept the season series against Phoenix, 4-0, for the first time since the 1988-89 season when the Coyotes were still the Winnipeg Jets.
Chicago outscored coach Wayne Gretzky's team 20-4 this season.
The Blackhawks have won 11 of 13 overall, outscoring opponents 55-24 along the way.
Mikael Tellqvist allowed four goals on 13 shots and lasted only one period before he was replaced by Ilya Bryzgalov.
Ducks 3, Kings 1
ANAHEIM, Calif. -- Samuel Pahlsson and Bobby Ryan scored power-play goals, and Jonas Hiller made 17 saves to lead Anaheim.
Pahlsson snapped a tie with 10:15 remaining, redirecting a centering pass from Scott Niedermayer for his fourth goal. Rob Niedermayer added an empty-net goal with 7 seconds left.
Ryan scored in the first period, and Kyle Quincey answered for Los Angeles in the second.
Hiller, Jean-Sebastien Giguere's backup, improved his record against Los Angeles to 4-0-0.
